Paris under the Commune eBook

Had one of these committeemen been an assistant there,
and did he owe his former master a grudge? Ferraigu
had a bottle of petroleum in his pocket; he was shot.
I am told that at the Theatre du Chatelet a court-martial
has been established on the stage. The Federals
are brought up twenty at a time, judged, and condemned,
they are then marched out on to the Place, with their
hands tied behind their backs. A mitrailleuse,
standing a hundred yards off, mows them down like
grass. It is an expeditious contrivance.
In a yard, in the Rue Saint-Denis, is a stable filled
with corpses; I have myself seen them there.
The Porte Saint-Martin Theatre is quite destroyed,
a guard is stationed near. This morning three
petroleuses were shot there, the bodies are
still lying on the boulevards. I have just seen
two insurgents walking between four soldiers; one
an old man, the other almost a lad. I heard the
elder one say to the younger, “All our misery
comes of our having arms. In ’48 we had
none, so we took those of the soldiers, and then they
were without. Now there is more killing and less
business done.” A few minutes after the
little procession passed up the Rue d’Hauteville,
and I heard the reports of two rifles. Oh! what
horrible days! I feel a prey to the deepest dejection—­if
it were but over! The town looks wretched; even
where the fighting is not going on, the houses are
closed and the streets deserted, except here and there:
a lonely passenger hurrying along, or a wretched prisoner
marching between four soldiers. It is all very
dreadful! In the streets where the battle is
still raging the shutters are not closed; as soon as
the soldiers get into a new quarter of the town they
cry out, “Shut the windows, open the shutters.”
The reason for this is, that the open barred outer
shutters, or persiennes, form a capital screen
through which aim maybe taken with a gun. As
for me, in the midst of this horror and sadness, I
feel like a madman in the night. The rumour that
the hostages have been shot at Mazas gains ground.[111]
I am told that the Archbishop, the Abbe Degueiry,
and Chaudey have all been assassinated. It was
Bigault who ordered these executions. He has
since been taken, and fell, crying “Down with
murderers!” This reminds one of Dumollard, the
assassin, calling the jurymen “Canaille!”
Milliere is said to have been shot in the Place du
Pantheon. When they told him to kneel down he
drew himself up to his full height, his eyes flashing
defiance. Strange caprice of nature, to make
these scoundrels brave.

[Illustration: THEATRE PORTE ST MARTIN.

SENSATION DRAMA OUT SENSATIONED.]

[Illustration]

[Illustration: CELL OF THE ARCHBISHOP IN THE
PRISON OF LA ROQUETTE.]

[Illustration: COURT-YARD OF PRISON OF LA ROQUETTE,
WHERE THE HOSTAGES WERE SHOT.]